JANUARY 15, 1957

COLUMBIA, Mo.—The articles written by Anthony Nutting for the New York Herald Tribune should be read as widely as possible in the United States. He was former British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and resigned his post because he disagreed with the Conservative party policy in Egypt.

He is an intelligent young man. In fact, he came into prominence very young in England and is considered a brilliant prodigy in government. In his first article, he states some facts which no one can deny. For instance:

"We simply cannot afford, in face of the growing challenge of Communism, the kind of recurrent annual earthquake in our (Great Britain and the U.S.) relations that took place over Indo-China in 1954, over Quemoy in 1955 and, worst of all, over Suez in 1956."

He goes on to say:

"Our survival depends on whether we can make friends, not with Communism, but with the millions of the uncommitted world. That is the simple life and death issue which faces us.

"How do we approach it? In basically different ways. The British approach is still that of a colonial power; the American that of a former colonial possession. To the U.S., the Middle East is a place to make money; to the United Kingdom, it is the blood stream of Britain's life and industry."

Nutting is quite right in saying that it is the uncommitted world that we must win. And I think he is equally right in saying that our different approaches, which few of our countrymen have taken the time to analyze—even in our higher diplomatic circles—is something that we must take into account. We can get along without the money which we make on oil in the Arab states, but Britain simply cannot live without the flow of oil into her country.

Nutting makes a statement near the end of this first article which will cause much argument in this country but is very well worth thinking about. He says:

"Whether it be in the U.N., the Middle East or the Far East, whether we be dealing with enemies, friends or neutrals, there can be no lasting settlement, no security and no true gain or profit for Britain or America unless we act as one, both in method and in aim. We have done this in NATO, we must do it everywhere else.

"If we are not to be outflanked and outmaneuvered by our enemies, if we are going to keep Russia out of the Middle East and the rest of Asia, we must sink our rivalry and join our efforts."

This is something, I think, which has been understood by some among us for a long time, particularly to those of us who have studied history and watched with care what has happened in the past years. But for many of our people, this is not a reality and they should begin to study this situation.

There is no question of either Great Britain or the U.S. being dominated. We must work as partners. We must be frank with each other and talk honestly. The great mistake which brought about the tragedy of Suez was, I think, the lack of communication between us.